Various interface standards for connecting computers, external peripherals, and networks are employed to provide simple connectivity at high speeds. For example, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a high-speed serial bus protocol commonly used to connect computers such as PCs and laptops to a wide variety of peripheral devices such as mice, keyboards, printers, flash drives, speakers, and the like. More specifically, the USB protocol was developed to offer users an enhanced and easy-to-use interface for connecting an incredibly diverse range of peripherals to their computers in a plug-and-play manner.
More recently, wireless communication protocols have been developed to allow communication devices such as PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones to connect with other communication devices without physical wires or cables. For example, the IEEE 802.11 standards define various Wi-Fi protocols that allow for wireless communication using RF signals. For example, a Wi-Fi access point may provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) that allows one or more client devices such as mobile stations (STAs) to communicate with each other and/or to connect to external wired networks such as the Internet.
Thus, it would be desirable for a host device (e.g., a computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone) to exchange USB data with a number of client devices (e.g., mice, keyboards, printers, flash drives, speakers) using an associated WLAN, for example, to obviate the need for cabling between the host device and the client devices. Although Bluetooth® technology may allow for wireless communications between the host device and the client devices, WLAN communications have a much greater range than Bluetooth communications.